Pipes, electrical cables and other components in buildings may be secured to a support extending down from an elevated structure, such as a ceiling. For example, a trapeze hanger system may be used to support one or more pipes and/or electrical cables (or other components) within a building. In one example, a trapeze hanger system includes one or more struts, each of which is secured to threaded rods depending from a ceiling. The strut is typically a channel strut including an upper side defining an open channel and a lower side having openings therein. Each threaded rod passes through the open channel in the upper side and one of the openings in the lower side. Nut/washer sets are used to secure the strut to the threaded rods. In particular, an upper nut/washer set and a lower nut/washer set are secured to each rod (i.e., the nuts are threaded on the rods), such that the strut is sandwiched between the upper and lower nut/washer sets to fixedly secure the strut to the threaded rod. When secured to the rods, the strut is spaced from the ceiling in a generally horizontal orientation. The pipes and/or electrical cables may be secured to the upper side of the strut, such as by pipe clamps secured in the open channel from the strut, so that the pipes and/or electrical cables run horizontally in the building.
Although the conventional trapeze hanger system works quite well for suspending components from an elevated structure, it can be time consuming to assembly the trapeze hanger system on site. Moreover, depending on the lengths of the strut used in the trapeze hanger system, it may require at least two installers to assemble the trapeze hanger system on site, which adds to the overall cost of installing.